The lowly business card : we don’t give it a second thought before we get the thing printed up, and we simply do what everyone else does. Many men and women, new in company, get the business card printed before they are really ready to, which induces many of the mistakes I record under. In both cases, experienced or new, we are missing huge opportunities to allow your business card take some of their work off your shoulders. We might take it for granted, however I believe your business card is one of the most important parts of marketing collateral, and also the most under-utilized.

Here are my tips for ways to get your business card working as hard as you can. If you would like to play along, pull out your business card, and see if your card is guilty of any of these first four no-no’s.

1. Missing email address. Believe it or not, lots of the cards I get via media meetings are missing email addresses. This is quite common with new small business owners and people in the private care industry, but still, there’s no explanation.

2. An email address that ends with , , , or your ISP’s domain name. Everybody in business for themselves must be using their own domain email (such as @). This is free advertising of your web site, so why are you advertisements Yahoo!, Comcast, or AOL instead of yourself? Advertising a free email accounts as your organization email is just plain unprofessional.

3. Glossy cards you can not write on. Okay, this is my pet peeve. Yes, you can get these cards printed for free online. That sends a loud message that you don’t even have the cash for business cards and that you do everything on the cheap. That’s not what I want people to think about my business.

4. A web site address printed on the card that isn’t up yet. While I get a business card out of you, I am likely to visit your web site to learn more. If it doesn’t come up, it tells me one of 2 things: you either did not cover your hosting company or webmaster, or you have not gotten into this project yet. Both are poor messages to ship.

Okay, how do you do? These are very basic, so if you’ve been in operation for a couple of decades, you’re likely doing well. So today let’s ask whether your business card looks like it is from a small operation or a Fortune 500 business. How about these small company no-no’s?

5. Missing job name. Every business card should list your job title, especially if you are President or CEO.

6. Photo of you. This is tell-tale small business. I disagree with some men and women who believe that it assists during media; you can go to the web site and view their image there. An image takes up valuable card property and yells “self” It is simply not the most effective thing to have on your card.

7. No emblem. Every company needs a logo for branding its image.

8. Clip art. Your logo should be the sole art on your card.

9. Weird shape. I don’t feel the best way to stand out is via strange colours or shape of your business card.

Now, let us get to what really matters: the promotion. Here are some items to think about that very few others do this will help your outcomes with prospects:

10. One phone number. Prospects can get confused as to what number to call. List just one, or make it clear when to call what number. Don’t keep us guessing.

11. The business you are in. Should you said nothing and handed your business card over to a stranger and asked them exactly what business you are in, would they figure it out? If not, neither can your potential. Make sure your tag line or business name clearly describes the business you’re in and if it does not, you will need to add something on your card that does.

12. What to do. Get prospects into your funnel by telling them exactly what to do next directly on your business card. Can they receive a free consultation? A free white paper? Make it clear on the card how they can register for the next step to get to know you.

How’d you do? I expect you passed, and should not, I see a visit to your printer on the long run.